WildwingsBirds and Outdoor Issues as I see them

I got an email earlier this week from a birding friend in San Antonio. He was headed south to check out a report of an Amazon kingfisher supposedly found along the Rio Grande in Laredo. Now I see the first news report of the bird from the AP via the Laredo Morning Times. It looks like the report is true:

Laredo could be home to a female Amazon kingfisher, a species of bird never previously reported in the United States.

On Sunday afternoon, Alan Wormington of Leamington, Canada, and his friend Robert Epstein were down at Zacate Creek when they spotted and photographed the bird.

Once again the throngs are sprinting to the area to see the bird which has been hinted at before but never confirmed.

This is not the first time there have been possible sightings of an Amazon kingfisher in South Texas, but this is the first time the bird has been photographed for confirmation.

Geez, I really ought to consider a road trip.

The local Fox News affiliate in Dallas-Ft. Worth has a report from the UK detailing the return of a pair of Bewick’s swans (very close relative of our tundra and trumpeter swans) to their traditional nesting territory.

Bewick’s swans, like many large waterfowl and other birds, are known to "mate for life" and traditionally stay together until the death of one or the other. Not so in this case though:

A male Bewick swan named Sarindi returned to the Slimbridge Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire, England during the annual migration without Saruni, his partner of two years, Julia Newth wrote on the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s blog diary Friday.

When he flew in with his new lover Sarind, bird wardens feared the worst, as Bewick swans tend only to split when one partner has died.

However, much to the wardens’ shock, Saruni arrived several weeks later without a scratch … but with a new beau called Surune in tow. 

"Divorce" among these birds is very rare but it does happen:

The wetlands center has studied Bewick swans for the past 40 years. In over 4,000 pairs studied Sarindi and Saruni are one of only two couples that separated after being together for some years.

This story fairly illustrates an irrefutable tenet I’ve come to respect ever more. There are few (if any) absolutes in nature.

My wife brought a little wildlife scene playing out in the backyard to my attention this morning. Peering out the kitchen window, I arrived in time to see a female sharp-shinned hawk collect a surprised house sparrow in her talons, carry it a few feet away, and eat it. Way cool.

It spent nearly 20 minutes plucking the feathers before she began downing the meaty portions of the bird. I was able to get a long-distance, fuzzy, angled shot through the window as the bird was engaged in the gory business of eating its prey:

The aftermath:

Once the small raptor had finished, she flew to a tree with the evidence still clinging to her beak:

How did I know it was a house sparrow? After all I didn’t actually see the kill. Well, it’s all in the evidence. Note the chestnut-colored edges to the wing feathers and the chestnut wing covert. Also there’s a bold whitish wing bar.

It took all of about half an hour but it was enough to make my week. It’s little vignettes like this which go a long way toward loosening the grips of winter.

kcorliss@forumcomm.com

Late last week I was starting to feel sorry for myself. I was beset with a deep nasty cough, congestion, and a lack of sleep. It felt like I’d been run over by a truck. And I still have it.

Then Thursday dawned with a phone call telling me one of my best friends was in the hospital after suffering a "cardiac episode." Turns out it was a series of mini-heart attacks. By the time I visited his room a stint had been successfully implanted and he was on the road to recovery. And cigarette cessation.

That same day I’d left a message for another dear friend who lives in a double-wide in Arizona. I was curious how he was weathering the fierce winds and heavy rains I’d been hearing about. I got no answer. None the next morning either.

When he finally did call the tone of his voice betrayed a deep anxiety. During the next 10 minutes he relayed how he had gone to the library during the height of the winds. He returned 90 minutes later to find his home a pile of ashes. Dead were his two falcons (did I mention he was a master falconer?) and his dog, Gertie. Gone was the life he knew along with all the accouterments we surround ourselves with to make our homes comfortable. Now it’s rebuilding time. Here’s a shot his sister took:

My little cough doesn’t seem so bad now does it? It’s all about perspective.

kcorliss@forumcomm.com

I’m not exactly sure what to make of a press release sent to me via a friend in Alabama. The news is stunning. But before we all start jumping up and down and toasting our good luck, keep one stark fact in mind: We’ve been down this road before.

I’ll just whisper it: ivory-billed woodpecker.

Yes, it seems a person named Daniel Rainsong has not only found but photographed an ivory-billed woodpecker several times in one of the prime areas suspected of possibly harboring this will-o’-the-wisp, the Sabine River basin (It forms most of the border between Texas and Louisiana). Here’s the relevant meat from freepressrelease.com:

On December 29, 2009, Daniel Rainsong found and photographically documented a living Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in the southern Sabine River basin . The bird was again spotted and photographed a second time, later…Daniel Rainsong spent 30 days (Dec 2009-Jan 2010) in specific predetermined locations in the Southern Sabine River basin in search of the Ivory-Billed woodpecker.

As I say, we’ve been here before. It seems very likely the bird videographed in Arkansas some years ago which caused mountains to move, was not an ivory-billed woodpecker. So a healthy dose of skepticism and a wait-and-see attitude is recommended. Still, it titillates our birding senses does it not?

This may very well be a hoax. Or the press release could be real, yet the evidence lacking. We shall see. The tease from the end of the piece:

Daniel Rainsong now has photographs to prove this new sighting. The photographs proving this new find are being sequestered to protect Mr. Rainsong’s right of claim in this discovery. After Mr. Rainsong’s rights in this discovery have been established and protected, the photographs will then be released to the public.

That "right of claim" statement has me curious. Just what does that mean? Is there a financial motive here? If so, the science behind this claim seems oddly tainted, at least on the surface.

I wonder if Las Vegas is listening. This appears to be a great subject to place odds upon. Bets anyone?

First a confession, I don’t read Hints by Heloise. The world renowned household advisor writes a syndicated column about ins and outs of daily life and is a contributing editor to Good Housekeeping magazine (I don’t get that one either).

But in a recent column the domestic maven confessed to being…(drum roll)…a bird watcher.

Dear Readers: Do you enjoy bird-watching? This is an inexpensive and fascinating hobby; all you really need is some binoculars and a book to help you identify the birds. A journal also is helpful to log the birds you’ve seen. (I have my list of birds I’ve seen written on the front inside cover of one bird book.)

My favorite spot is the South Texas coast near Rockport, where there is a whooping crane refuge. I’ve been honored to see these large, magnificent birds several times. It’s always a thrill! — Heloise

Chalk another person up to the birding hobby.

What are you doing Feb. 12-15? If you are as bored as I am during this mid-to-late winter span you may want to consider taking part in an annual citizen science project known as the Great Backyard Bird Count. Here’s the snapshot from the website:

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event.

Why do it? Again from the website…

Your counts can help us answer many questions:

-How will this winter’s snow and cold temperatures influence bird populations?

-Where are winter finches and other “irruptive” species that appear in large numbers during some years but not others?

-How will the timing of birds’ migrations compare with past years?

-How are bird diseases, such as West Nile virus, affecting birds in different regions?

-What kinds of differences in bird diversity are apparent in cities versus suburban, rural, and natural areas?

-Are any birds undergoing worrisome declines that point to the need for conservation attention?

(red-breasted nuthatch)

I’ve never done this but it may be worth my giving it a shot. I do find the title a little misleading though. When I see "backyard" I think, well, backyard. But that’s not necesssarily true. Their own website says, "Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like—one day, two days, or all four days." That tells me you can go anywhere you want.

There were over 94,000 checklists submitted last year so apparently this thing is quite popular. Depending on what is happening during that time span, I just may try it. The kicker is I don’t think I’ll be home. That is the weekend I planned on going ice fishing with my son so I would have to submit a checklist or two from afar. We shall see.

The unmet goal of getting 50 species on the Fargo-Moorhead Christmas Bird Count remains a festering sore with me. Again this year we came close–48–but it’s little consolation. Frustrating? You bet.

Then today I hear (via KUCB) of a modest Alaskan village (Unalaska) which got 51 species:

Results from the local 2009 Christmas Bird Count are in. Local bird watchers saw about 7,270 individual birds from 51 different species. Included in the count were 1,368 Emperor Geese, 125 Steller Eiders, 505 bald eagles, and 2 Eurasian Wigeons. 

What’s up with that? In the northern hemisphere birds are supposed to abandoned northerly latitudes in winter and filter south where some Christmas bird counts get huge (think Rockport, Texas).

There is a fairly simple explanation for this of course. Unalaska, home of Dutch Harbor (Deadliest Catch is filmed out of this port), sits in the Aleutian chain where the Japan current maintains a temperate flow of ocean water. Thus the birders there are able to count a lot of water birds. Not that I necessarily want to be there but over 1,000 emperor geese would be impressive to witness. Especially since I’ve never seen one. Stellar’s eiders neither.

(emperor geese, by Russell Link)

That may be a little harsh. I’m as guilty as any of misspellings, tense confusion, poor usage, and other faux pas cast upon the Queen’s English. However, I couldn’t help but notice the name of a particular bird in this story from Wilcox, Ariz.

It’s a local news account of the 17th annual Wings Over Wilcox birding festival, an event which would have been cool to attend. It sounds like it was a success with 20 of the 43 field trips sold out and a bird total which reached 139 species.

The better birds found? Ruddy ground-dove, mountain plover, hairy woodpecker (believe it or not this was new to the count), greater scaup, and something called a "crusted caracara."

I’ve seen it in Texas. But nothing about this weird raptor is crusted. Here’s my shot of one being harangued by a pair of northern mockingbirds:

Here’s what one looks like up close, courtesty of John Kormendy:

Oh by the way, it’s a crested caracara. Subtle but significant.

This morning I got an email from a fellow birder living in northwest North Dakota. It depicts a scene at a bird feeding station at Australia’s Lamington National Park (assuming of course, this email is true). The photo was taken by a guy named Matthew Watt. I can’t think of any similar setting the US may offer which would even come close to the amazing colors displayed by these glorious birds. Take a look:

Yeah, we have some tanagers, some buntings, maybe some warblers. But nothing like this. Amazing.

For those keeping score at home, the red ones are called crimson rosellas and the green ones are king parrots.